Jesus Christ Superstar: Juuuuudas

Listen along!
101 - Overture
102 - Heaven on Their Minds

I don't really have any Lent traditions except one: Jesus Christ Superstar. My dad introduced me when I was but a lad and I've probably heard it hundreds of times since then. This morning I popped it in on the way to work and started to listen and enjoy but I found myself applying the critical analysis and interpretation that the dLog has been instilling in me. And I realized that there is a goldmine of dLog material in there! Especially when comparing and contrasting to the source and looking for what the two bring out in each other. So, that's going to be the focus of my dLogging through Easter. If you've never seen/heard JCS, this is your chance to pick up a copy (used CD stores always have them and it's available on DVD) and follow along. Great lyrics, wonderful music. And, like the Onion said, it "temporarily made Christianity cool." :)

One of the first criticisms levied against JCS by Christians is that it shows only one side of Jesus, his human side, while ignoring his divine song. Is this some vast conspiracy by Andrew Loyd Weber and Tim Rice to assert that Jesus was a great man and teacher, but not God? His miracles are in tact, along with the teaching, but is it completely clear that he's more than human? Not absolutely, but I think that's on purpose. The first and last words of the opera go to one man: Judas. Judas Iscariot. And, for that reason, I think that JCS could almost be considered the Gospel of Judas.

That's a scary thought, right? Evil ol' Judas! HIM writing a Gospel? Well, as Jesus told us, "He who hath not sinned . . ." What I think that JCS does wonderfully, especially in the first sung song ("Heaven on Their Minds"), is explain just what was going through Judas' head. Here are some highlights from the lyrics:

My mind is clearer now--at last all too well
I can see where we all soon will be
If you strip away the myth from the man
you will see where we all soon will be
Jesus! You started to believe
The things they say of you
You really do believe
This talk of God is true
And all the good you've done
Will soon get swept away
You've begun to matter more
Than the things you say . . .

I remember when this whole thing began
No talk of God then--we called you a man

Judas is clearly a divine-denier and if the opera carries his perspective, it makes sense that people would assume that about the opera. I think Jesus' divinity is there to those looking for it, but you just gotta keep POV in mind.

Looking through the gospels, it amazes me that Judas' intentions and motivations are never really stated. All we really get are variations on, "Judas went to the high priests and agreed to turn Jesus over to them and the priests rejoiced." No word on, "Judas considered what Jesus was up to and wanted no part of it . . ." or, "Judas saw danger . . ." or, "Judas was really, really broke . . ." Nothing. He just did it. And that's why I appreciate JCS here. It gives us a motivation. Judas has been with Christ from the start, but he never got it. The evidence? John 12:6 tells us that Judas, the disciples' treasurer, had his hand in the coffer; he was stealing right from under Jesus' nose. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind stealing from the Messiah, the Son of God and Son of Man. Stealing from a clever teacher? Sure.

The last two verses of "Heaven on Their Minds" clues us in to some more of Judas' possible motivation which comes from the politics of the day:

Listen, Jesus, don't you care for your race?
Don't you see we must keep in our place?
We are occupied--have you forgotten how put down we are?
I am frightened by the crowd
For we are getting much too loud
And they'll crush is if we go too far

Listen, Jesus, to the warning I give
Please remember I want us to live . . .

Israel, at that time, was under occupation by the Roman army. Judas believed himself to be reading the writing on the wall, the same writing the Pharisees were reading: Jesus' followers were growing in number and could be a force to be reckoned with should they chose to rise up against Rome. And since many of the Jews of the day believed that a Messiah would save them from their oppressors, this really wasn't too far off. However, they never comprehended the fact that Jesus was the Messiah and that was absolutely not his goal.

I think that it is important that, at least initially, Judas thought he was doing the right thing. He was afraid of what might happen to Israel because of Jesus. Why initially? The gospels make it clear that at some point, Satan enters him. Was Judas entirely opposed to that? Maybe not. Most of what Weber/Rice interject here is speculation, but it's well-founded speculation from what I can tell. There's no harm in humanizing Judas, he is a human after all. Judas represents so much about ourselves too: in the presence of God but denying it, doing what his short-sightedness dictates is right, and gladly kissing Jesus away. We all do it on a daily basis. Maybe hourly. Judas is certainly not a hero, but he's not the evil chariacture we imagine. He's us, we're him. In that way he's fascinating, he's a warning. And in some ways it's comforting to know that Jesus chose Judas despite knowing what would happen. Jesus chose us as well, to do his work. None of us are perfect but somehow we're all going to fit into his plan.